Popular wisdom may be popular, but sometimes it's downright wrong. Five stories from The Conversation's 2018 politics coverage interrogate popular wisdom – and find it lacking.

A Honduran migrant lies on a riverbank as Mexican police move away from tear gas fired by U.S. agents at the Mexico-U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico, on Nov. 25, 2018.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
November 28, 2018

MS-13 is not the biggest or most violent gang in the US. But its grisly murders and Latino membership inflame Americans' anxiety about immigration. GOP campaign ads stoke those fears to attack Democrats.

Evangelicals of color are among the fastest growing segments of the American population.
AP Photo/Tina Fineberg
November 1, 2018